As Hamas and Israel continue an exchange of airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, a small but vocal group of Democrats in the House of Representatives led by Rep Brad Schneider of Illinois are urging President Joe Biden to re-freeze billions of dollars in Iranian assets.
The House members sent an open letter to Biden on May 12, calling for the re-imposition of sanctions that were lifted in 2016 as part of the Iran nuclear deal. The Democrats’ primary concern is that the assets could be used to fund Iran’s support for Hamas, whose recent rocket attacks on Israel spurred the latest round of violence.
“We need to be vigilant and prepared to take immediate action to stop Iran from using the funds freed up by the JCPOA to finance and arm our adversaries, such as Hamas,” the representatives wrote in the letter.
The Iranian assets, totaling $6 billion, were frozen during the Obama administration. Since then, the Biden administration has insisted that these assets remain frozen until Iran agrees to negotiate and make tangible progress towards restoring the nuclear deal.
The letter’s signatories include Intelligent chairman Adam Schiff, megarep John Yarmuth, and Reps. Jamie Raskin, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Dan Kildee, Don Beyer, Jerry Nadler, and Anthony Brown.
In their letter, the representatives noted that the funds have the potential to be used to purchase weapons and added that “we cannot ignore the reality of the risk posed by Iran’s access to immense amount of funds suddenly available to this historically dangerous and destabilizing regime.”
In a clear message to the Biden administration, the letter urged the President to exercise “vigilance against the providing of these funds to Hamas” and to consider additional sanctions if Iran does not meet its obligations under the nuclear deal.
It is clear that U.S. politicians of both sides of the aisle are determined to put pressure on Iran and restict its access to funds. In doing so, they aim to ensure that the Islamic Republic does not use the monies for the wrong intentions – such as fuelling violence in the Middle East.